Darnell Moore's No Ashes in the Fire: Author Talkback with Imara Jones

Author Darnell Moore discusses his new book No Ashes in the Fire with Imara Jones. Janet Mock calls Moore "one of the most influential black writers and thinkers of our time—a beautiful, intentionally complex feminist activist writing liberatory futures."

When Darnell Moore was fourteen years old, three boys from his neighborhood tried to set him on fire. They cornered him while he was walking home from school, harassed him because they assumed he was gay, and poured a jug of gasoline on him. He escaped, but just barely. It wasn't the last time he would face death.

Three decades later, Darnell Moore is an award-winning writer and activist, a leader in the Movement for Black Lives, and a tireless advocate for justice and liberation. In No Ashes in the Fire, he sets out to understand how that scared, bullied teenager not only survived, but found his calling. Moore traces his life from his childhood in Camden, New Jersey, a city scarred by uprisings and repression; to his search for intimacy in the gay neighborhoods of Philadelphia; and, finally, to the movements in Newark, Brooklyn, and Ferguson where he could fight for those who, like him, survive on society's edges. No Ashes in the Fire is a story of beauty and hope - and an honest reckoning with family, with place, and with what it means to be free.

Darnell L. Moore is Editor-at-Large at CASSIUS (an iOne digital platform) and formerly a senior editor and correspondent at Mic. He is co-managing editor at The Feminist Wire and an editor of The Feminist Wire Books (a series of University of Arizona Press). He is also a writer-in-residence at the Center on African American Religion, Sexual Politics and Social Justice at Columbia University. Along with NFL player Wade Davis II, he co-founded YOU Belong, a social good company focused on the development of diversity initiatives.

Imara Jones, whose work has won Emmy and Peabody Awards, is host of The Last Sip a weekly, half-hour news show currently on hiatus which targets Millennials of color, especially women and the LGBTQ community. She also is the creator of TransLash a four-pat docuseries about it is like to be trans at a time of social backlash. Both programs are produced by Oria Media which Imara leads. The Last Sip will air on the independent, news network FSTV. Imara’s work as a host, on-air news analyst, and writer focuses on the full-range of social justice and equity issues. Imara has been featured regularly in a number of leading news outlets such as The Guardian, The Nation, MSNBC, CNBC, NPR, Mic, and Colorlines. Imara has held economic policy posts in the Clinton White House and communications positions at Viacom. Imara is a transwoman and goes by the pronouns she/her/they/them. Imara is 2018 Voqal Fellow and is currently a Fellow-in-Residence at The New York Women’s Foundation.

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